HYMN SHEET EPIPHANY IV WITH ORDO

The Catholic Church and Personal Parish of Our Lady of Walsingham with Saint Cuthbert Mayne

FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY DWSM Readings and Propers p.156 INTROIT HYMN Come, let us join our cheerful songs With angels round the throne; Ten thousand thousand are their tongues, But all their joys are one.

Jesus is worthy to receive Honour and pow'r divine; And blessings more than we can give Be, Lord, for ever thine.

'Worthy the Lamb that died,' they cry, 'To be exalted thus;' 'Worthy the Lamb,' our lips reply, 'For He was slain for us.'

Let all creation join in one To bless the sacred name Of him that sits upon the throne, And to adore the Lamb.

RESPONSORIAL PSALM How happy are the poor in spirit; theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

OFFERTORY HYMN Alleluia, sing to Jesus, His the sceptre, his the throne; Alleluia, his the triumph, His the victory alone: Hark the songs of peaceful Sion Thunder like a mighty flood; Jesus out of every nation, Hath redeemed us by his blood.

Alleluia, not as orphans Are we left in sorrow now; Alleluia, he is near us, Faith believes, nor questions how; Though the cloud from sight received him When the forty days were o'er, Shall our hearts forget his promise, 'I am with you evermore'?

Alleluia, Bread of Angels, Thou on earth our food, our stay; Alleluia, here the sinful Flee to thee from day to day; Intercessor, Friend of sinners, Earth's Redeemer, plead for me, Where the songs of all the sinless Sweep across the crystal sea.

Alleluia, King eternal, Thee the Lord of lords we own; Alleluia, born of Mary, Earth thy footstool, heaven thy throne: Thou within the veil hast entered, Robed in flesh, our great High Priest; Thou on earth both Priest and Victim In the Eucharistic Feast.

COMMUNION HYMN O WORSHIP the King all glorious above; O gratefully sing His power and his love: Our Shield and Defender, the Ancient of days, Pavilioned in splendour, and girded with praise.

O tell of his might, O sing of his grace, Whose robe is the light, whose canopy space.

His chariots of wrath the deep thunder-clouds form, And dark is his path on the wings of the storm.

This earth, with its store of wonders untold, Almighty, thy power hath founded of old: Hath stablished it fast by a changeless decree, And round it hath cast, like a mantle, the sea.

O measureless Might, ineffable Love, While angels delight to hymn thee above, Thy humbler creation, though feeble their lays, With true adoration shall sing to thy praise.

PRAYER OF ST MICHAEL Holy Michael, Archangel, defend us in the day of battle.

Be thou our defence against the wickedness and snares of the Devil.

May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly hosts, by the power of God, thrust down to hell Satan, and all wicked spirits, who wander through the world for the ruin of souls. Amen.

THE ANGELUS The angel of the Lord brought tidings to Mary And she conceived by the Holy Ghost.

Behold the handmaid of the Lord. be it unto me according to thy word.

The Word was made flesh.

And dwelt amongst us.

Hail Mary...

Hail Mary...

Hail Mary...

Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray.

We beseech thee O Lord, pour thy grace into our hearts: that, as we have known the Incarnation of thy Son Jesus Christ by the message of an Angel, so by his Cross and Passion we may be brought to the glory of his resurrection, through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

NOTICES

M 30th T 31st W 1st Th 2nd F 3rd S 4th Su

5th

Feria Feria Feria CANDLEMAS Feria BVM on Saturday Mass at Topsham SEPTUAGESIMA

12.00 18.30 10.00 19.00 10.00 10.00 12.00 10.00

Mattins will be said at 7.50 Tuesday- Friday And 9.00 on Saturday and Sunday REFLECTION ON TODAY’S GOSPEL The Gospel presents the first great discourse that the Lord addresses to the people on the gentle hills encircling the Sea of Galilee. “Seeing the crowds,” St Matthew writes, “he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them” (Mt 5:1-2).

Jesus, the new Moses, “takes his seat on the cathedra of the mountain” (Jesus of Nazareth, Doubleday, New York 2007, p. 65) and proclaims “blessed” the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the merciful, those who hunger for righteousness, the pure in heart, the persecuted (cf. Mt 5:310). It is not a new ideology, but a teaching that comes from on high and touches the human condition, the condition that the Lord, in becoming flesh, wished to assume in order to save it.

Therefore “the Sermon on the Mount is addressed to the entire world, the entire present and future, and yet it demands discipleship and can be understood and lived out only by following Jesus and accompanying him on his journey” (Jesus of Nazareth, p. 69).

The Beatitudes are a new programme of life, to free oneself from the false values of the world and to open oneself to the true goods, present and future. Indeed, when God comforts, he satisfies the hunger for righteousness, he wipes away the tears of those who mourn, which means that, as well as compensating each one in a practical way, he opens the Kingdom of Heaven. “The Beatitudes are the transposition of the Cross and Resurrection into discipleship” (ibid., p. 74). They mirror the life of the Son of God who let himself even be persecuted and despised until he was condemned to death so that salvation might be given to men and women.

An ancient hermit says: “The Beatitudes are gifts of God and we must say a great ‘thank you’ to him for them and for the rewards that derive from them, namely the Kingdom of God in the century to come and consolation here; the fullness of every good and mercy on God’s part … once we have become images of Christ on earth” (Peter of Damascus, In Filocalia, Vol. 3, Turin 1985, p. 79).

The Gospel of the Beatitudes is commented on with the actual history of the Church, the history of Christian holiness, because, as St Paul writes, “God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong, God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are” (1 Cor 1:27-28).

For this reason the Church has no fear of poverty, contempt or persecution in a society which is often attracted by material well-being and worldly power. St Augustine reminds us that “it serves nothing to suffer these evils, but rather to bear them in the Name of Jesus, not only with a serene soul but also with joy” (cf. De sermone Domini in monte, i, 5,13: ccl 35, 13).

Dear brothers and sisters, let us invoke the Virgin Mary, the Blessed par excellence, asking her for the strength to seek the Lord (cf. Zeph 2:3) and to follow him always, with joy, on the path of the Beatitudes.

Pope Benedict XVI 2011